whirled peas though a soup of ideas

Category Archives: principle

the year 2017 ends today and i thought to post an actualization story.

one morning late last year while leaving my farm to head into town, feeling elated at the elated state of mind from nootropics that morning, i was on the phone with my brother and described my elated state of mind then thought to ask him an actualization question.

what would you do today if you discovered you’d awaken with an IQ of 200? he paused long. “well i’d start doing the things i’ve dreamed about. starting a new career, earn well, finish school, and enjoy my time staying at home.” ok i said. what if you awoke to an IQ of 170? another long pause guess he was imagining where this was going. “well hmm… basically the same. start a new career and go to school”. then i progress to ask him about awakening with an IQ of 150, 120, then finally with the IQ he currently has. mind you, i’m an ardent critic of the nature of means by which an IQ test is administered but it remains a basic assessment of our accumulated knowledge. “ya i guess it’s the same answer”. by then i asked him “so… why aren’t you doing that now?”.

we both laughed it off but the philosophical implication remains stuck like an alien creature attached to my brain. why aren’t i doing that and why doesn’t everyone? it’s been over a year now and i think i found a simple answer aside from the typical response “well i got stuff to do today…” kind of response. the answer for myself is to decide options today based on principal. as a Taoist seeing the value of my day as decisions i’ve made when my head lays to rest is germane to my thought DNA. small decisions based on principals i’ve adopted, as basic as they may appear, form small action steps working toward long term personal goals and shape a purpose to my being.